Breaking: Deerhunter

Who: Deerhunter, a quartet of Atlanta shoegazers that follow indie acclaim and opening for Nine Inch Nails with their most accessible album to date, Microcastle (read our review here).

Sounds Like: Deerhunter combine My Bloody Valentine's atmospherics, Sonic Youth's knack for experimentation and the girl group vibe that channels Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. Microcastle features everything from billowing dream pop like "Little Kids" to twitchy dance rock on "Nothing Ever Happens." "I listen to music every waking hour — silence makes me uncomfortable," says singer Bradford Cox of his wide-ranging influences.

Vital Stats:

• Cox is almost as well known for his blogging as his music: Along with providing fans with a steady stream of free demos, Cox has posted pictures of feces, photos of naked men and even wrote about how he was assaulted as a child. His hardcore blogging days came to an sudden end earlier this year, however, when he accidentally leaked Microcastle's companion disc Weird Era Cont. to fans. "Blogs to me are really dated already," says Cox. "In 15 years, they'll be like Crystal Pepsi."

• Cox was born with Marfan syndrome, which left the singer with his unusually lanky figure, partially deaf, anxiety-prone and, somehow, fond of cross dressing. "I've always been a leader of awkward people," Cox says. His high school years was equally uncomforable, with Cox admitting "I was a just a stoner teenager."

• Deerhunter formed in 2001, but Cox and drummer Moses Archuleta are the only two remaining members of that first formation: Their first bassist died in a skateboarding accident, while another three members left. Over the course of their three albums, Deerhunter has gained famous fans like R.E.M., Trent Reznor and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O.

Hear It Now: Microcastle and its "secret" companion album Weird Era Cont. is in stores both physical and digital now. Click above for a performance of "Microcastle" and check out "Never Stops" below.

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

More Song Stories entries »

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